Lake Louise, AB: 03/28/07

jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Now I understand what all the hubbub is about Lake Louise. We had a gorgeous bluebird day with nice cold temps:
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Summit Platter:
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At 1 pm, I got set up with ski host Dave, a really nice guy from Calgary who flies 737s for Canadian airline WestJet... for the next three hours, he took me on a bunch of great backside bowl runs.
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As this was my fourth straight day of bell-to-bell skiing, my legs were getting tired, so I asked him to keep me on the single side of the blacks and leave the double-blacks (which are, IMHO, pretty damn steep) for my next visit.

I fly out tomorrow, some I'm going to do two half-days at Norquay. It's pretty small compared to where I've been so far, but according to Patrick, with a few steep runs. It'll be nice to ski at a locals joint with no crowds as the Brit-heavy hordes are starting to get on my nerves.
 
I am quite high on Banff/Lake Louise as a ski destination at this time of year. Both my trips near this time in 1999 and 2002 retained winter conditions, and there is plenty of interesting terrain to keep you busy.

The rap on these places is modest natural snowfall, but if you're going in March/April you don't have to book until January, so you can easily avoid the lean years.
 
I'm not sure which areas Tony is referring to (LL and Norquay?)... Sunshine's conditions rival those of Grand Targhee, but with more and better terrain.
 
Sunshine's average snowfall at the midmountain hotel (7028 feet) is 238 inches. http://members.aol.com/crockeraf/crocnet.htm This is a very complete data set going back about 35 years. Does it snow more at the top (8954 feet)? Probably, but I'd guess no more than 300. And judging by coverage I'd say Goat's Eye gets less than the main mountain. Look at the base depths too, usually season max is 80-90 inches. It would be more than that (like Wolf Creek or Targhee) if they really averaged 400.

Due to cold weather and superb snow preservation, I would not disagree with any of jamesdeluxe's positive comments. But I wouldn't recommend advance booking Louise or Sunshine for December/January. And I would wait until January to book the later months.

These are the areas that taught me that snowfall isn't everything. I've been to Lake Louise in 4 different seasons and have enjoyed the skiing every time. Louise probably makes the top 10 in North America for terrain quality IMHO.
 
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